Monster
by DucksFan1510
Summary: Percy Jackson was eight when his mom brought the boy home from the park. He was ten when the two of them made a run for it. He was eleven when they reached a sanctuary. He was thirteen when that boy left his side for the first time. He was sixteen when he saved that boy from himself. He was sixteen when it was all over.
1. Chapter 1

**Ok. This is a new topic for me. I just saw the second Percy Jackson movie last weekend. Not like the books but I still love the story. So I'm going to finally start up a story for it. I'm not even sure where this idea came from. It might take a little longer to update this story because I want to make it good but I'll try to keep on track for it. Hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 1**

Eight year old Percy Jackson lived with his mom in Manhattan. He really enjoyed it there. Even though he didn't have many friends, he still liked the city. His only friend was a boy named Grover, but he lived on the other side of the neighborhood so he couldn't always play. They lived in a small apartment just down the street from the park. That's where he and Grover would play whenever they could. He wished they had a house with a pool because he loved the water. Grover didn't share the same interest but he would always sit by the edge of the pond while Percy jumped around in it. They were great friends. But then Grover had moved from out of state and Percy hadn't seen him in forever. It was starting to get lonely.

He had never met his father but his mom told him that he was a great man and that Percy looked a lot like him. But were you a great man if you never came to see your kid? Percy wasn't sure. But today it didn't matter because he had gotten a phone call from Grover saying he was coming back to Manhattan. They had planned to go play in the park and his mom was going to take them out to eat afterwards. It was the perfect day.

"Percy! Come eat breakfast so we can meet Grover at the park," his mom called him into the kitchen. He sat down and smiled when he saw the blue waffles on his plate. His favorite color was blue so his mom made him lots of blue food. It was a joke between them. Another reason to love his mom.

"Hi mom. Good morning," he said with a smile as he ate his breakfast as fast as he could. He wanted to go see his friend. He and Grover hadn't seen each other in almost two years. They had so much to catch up on. In ten minutes, they were in the car and heading to the park.

"Mom did dad ever say why he left us?" Percy asked quietly. He wanted to know if his mom knew anything that he didn't.

"He's a very important person Percy. But he's needed at other places," his mom said and the conversation ended. Percy nodded. He hadn't expected a long answer. Talking about his dad was a touchy subject. They arrived at the park and Percy was already out of the car before it stopped. He saw his best friend sitting under a tree talking to some invisible being. He did that a lot. Grover was always talking with invisible things or animals. He was a little weird. Just like Percy.

"Grover!" Percy yelled as he ran towards the tree where his friend sat.

"Hey Percy!" Grover said waving at him, "Hi Mrs. Jackson!"

"Hello Grover," Percy's mom smiled at him, "You two have fun. I won't be far away."

Percy nodded at his mom and then turned to Grover, "How's it going?"

"I missed you Percy! I really didn't want to leave but I had to live with my dad for a few years. I'm glad I'm back again."

"Me too. So what should we do? Do you want to go by the pond again?"

"We always go there. Let's go climb a tree or something."

"I don't like climbing trees. How about we hang out in the field outside of the playground?"

"Ok. You don't want to go play?"

"The other kids will give us weird looks."

"You're right. We can play catch with the ball I brought."

The two of them walked the short distance to the open field and Grover kicked the ball over to him. They ran around for a while before they collapsed in the grass.

"So how was your dad's place?" Percy asked.

"Oh it was alright. Nothing can beat here though. How are you?"

"I'm alright. It was really boring without someone to hang out with. When you called to tell us that you were coming back I was so excited. My mom is taking us out to eat today after the park."

"Yep I know. She knows I'm always starving," Grover sat up in the grass and ran his hands through it a few times.

"Let's go to the pond now. Just for a few minutes?" Percy almost begged.

"Alright fine. But I get first order at the restaurant!" Grover shouted as he jumped up to follow Percy to the pond. As soon as they reached it, Percy leaped into it.

"Don't get too wet or they won't let us eat," Grover said as he took his seat at the edge of the water, swirling it around with his finger. Percy laughed and lightly splashed water at his friend.

"I'll be fine. I'm not even that deep in," Percy said with a smile. Since it was summer, he had on shorts and the water was only up to his knees. Grover always wore jeans or sweat pants. Even when it was really hot. He didn't understand why but whenever he asked Grover about it the conversation got really awkward so he usually didn't ask. After Percy got his fill of standing in the water, they headed over to the playground to find his mom.

When they got there, they saw a bunch of kids playing on the playground. A few little girls were on the swings. Some boys were playing tag. Percy spotted his mom and pointed. He turned to make sure Grover was following him, but his friend wasn't coming. Instead he was staring out at the playground at a pair of older girls hanging out near the edge of the playground. And that's when the screaming started.

Percy wanted to cover his ears as he looked around for who was making the noise. It didn't take long to find out. A blonde boy that was a little smaller than him was pointing at the two girls and screaming bloody murder. Grover basically freaked.

"Mrs. Jackson!" he shouted and Percy's mom seemed to appear out of thin air.

"Grover?" she asked as she glanced towards the boy who was still screaming. Percy couldn't really make out what he was saying. It sounded like he was yelling about monsters. Everyone was staring at him too.

Grover pointed to the boy, "Now."

Percy's mom nodded and she ran forward towards the boy, "There you are! I've been looking for you all over."

She wrapped her arms around the little boy who looked scared out of his mind. Grover grabbed Percy's arm and started dragging him towards the car.

"Come on. We need to go," he said.

Percy watched his mom stand up with the boy in her arms. She apologized to the girls, "I'm so sorry about that. He has a very big imagination."

The girls just shrugged and carried on with their conversation. Percy let Grover drag him towards the car. Once they were inside Grover leaned against the seat, "Wow. That was weird."

"Yea. What was all that? What do you think is wrong with that boy?" Percy asked quietly.

"I don't know." A minute later his mom arrived carrying the boy in her arms. She set him down outside the car and opened the door for him. He climbed inside and sat down in the seat next to Grover. Grover smiled slightly at the boy and then turned to Percy's mom.

"I think we should cancel the rest of the trip. If you wouldn't mind dropping me off at my house?" Grover asked with a smile.

"No problem Grover," Mrs. Jackson replied. Percy took this momentary distraction to glance over at the new addition in the car. He was leaning as far away from Grover as he could. He had blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He had a backpack on and his clothes were really dirty. Percy thought he looked like a homeless person. They arrived at Grover's house and his friend thanked his mom for the ride.

"Grover? How long do you think?" Mrs. Jackson asked.

"Year or two. I'll be in contact. They were stupid ones. That's why they didn't know what he was. I'll see you around Mrs. Jackson."

Percy always wondered what Grover and his mom talked about. None of it made sense to him. But maybe it was like his blue food. Maybe they had some kind of little connection too. After Grover left, they started back towards their apartment. The thing that bothered Percy was that the other boy was still in the car with them. He wasn't coming home with him was he? That wasn't fair. He looked back at the boy and was surprised to see him looking back at him. Those eyes seemed to pierce right into his thoughts. He swallowed and looked away. Even though he could tell this boy was younger than him, he was a lot scarier. He didn't want to talk to the boy. Hopefully he would be gone by the morning. Or even better, right when they got home.

When his mom pulled up at their apartment he climbed out of the car and he saw his mom help the other boy out. Guess he wasn't leaving right away. They walked into their house and Percy sat down at the table. His mom gave the other boy a light push towards a different chair. She left the kitchen for a few minutes to get the two something to eat. Percy looked over at the blonde again. He needed to say something. It wasn't right just sitting here in silence.

"Hi, I'm Percy Jackson," he said with a smile at the other boy. The boy looked up at him and studied him for a minute.

"I'm Luke," he said quietly. Well at least Percy knew the boy's name now. His mom walked back into the kitchen with a plate of sandwiches. Percy smiled when she set them down in the middle of the table. Luke had almost the exact opposite reaction. He jumped backwards and pulled his knees up to his chest. He stared up at Mrs. Jackson with fear in his eyes for a good five minutes before he seemed to settle down. He slowly lifted a sandwich off of the plate and looked it over. Percy nodded once at him and Luke bit into the food.

Percy started to regret his first thoughts about Luke. He didn't seem like a bad person. Maybe he would be ok if Luke stayed with them for a little while. Mrs. Jackson sat across from Percy and next to Luke.

"Can I know your name now?" she asked quietly. Percy watched as Luke didn't say anything. He seemed to be very interested in the sandwich he was eating.

"His name is Luke," Percy said hoping he was being helpful.

His mom nodded at him, "Well Luke, I know you had a bit of a traumatic experience at the park today. Would you want to stay with us for a little while?"

Luke's eyes widened a little and he put down the sandwich. Percy watched as the other boy buried his head in his arms and didn't meet their eyes. Was he scared of them? Percy didn't know why he would be. He decided to try and help again.

"You don't have to be afraid of us. My mom is really nice. And I want you around," he said reaching out to tap Luke's arm. The boy raised his head to glance at Percy and then at Mrs. Jackson. He finally nodded and Percy smiled again.

"That's good. You'll have to stay in Percy's room is that ok? There are two beds in there," Mrs. Jackson said and Luke nodded again. It was quiet for a little bit until Luke actually talked again.

"You will stop them from getting me?" he asked looking at Percy's mom.

Mrs. Jackson frowned for a minute, "What?"

"The monsters. You will stop them right?" he asked again.

"Of course I will. You're under my protection now, Luke."

Percy wondered if his mom was just humoring Luke. Percy knew there weren't any monsters. They didn't exist. Maybe Luke did have a big imagination.

"Hey Luke! Come on, I'll take you to my room," Percy said with a smile.

**Thanks for reading guys! The ages will be a little switched around. They might be OOC now because they're kids. Events in the book will be switched up a little too. I'm not going to pretend like I own the characters or anything. Just the plot. Reviews would make me happy! Really happy!**


	2. Chapter 2

**And the next chapter is here! Just gonna say it was a great start for this story. Thanks to all those who followed, favorited, and reviewed. You all made my day.**

**Chapter 2**

Percy almost had to drag Luke to his room because the boy was not a fast walker. He knew it was probably a little scary. He was moving in with strange people in a strange house. He had the same feeling whenever he had to move to a different house. So he was as patient as he could be with Luke. When they finally got to his room he pointed to the second bed in the room.

"That's your bed there. You can put your stuff down if you want," he said and Luke followed his directions.

Luke sat on the edge of his bed and then for the first time, gave Percy a small smile, "Your mom's nice."

"She's the best in the world," Percy agreed. Luke looked around the room and his eyes fell on all the books in Percy's shelves.

"You read a lot?" he asked with a surprised expression.

"Not a lot. I don't really like it but my mom wants me to," Percy said, "Why do you?"

"No. I'm not good at it," Luke admitted.

"Do you want to learn how too?"

"Is it as boring as you say?"

"I don't know."

Luke shrugged and stretched out on the bed. Percy sat down on his own bed but he didn't look away from the other boy. Luke was really mysterious to Percy. He was different and the whole park scene had made it really weird.

"Percy?"

Percy almost jumped. He hadn't heard Luke ever say his name before.

"Yea what is it?"

"Do you believe in monsters?" Luke asked quietly.

Percy wasn't sure what to say. His mom had agreed with Luke. But he wasn't sure if she actually believed him. He decided to try and make Luke see it was all just his imagination.

"I used to. But I don't anymore. They're not real Luke. They just try to scare us in our imagination," he said. He hoped Luke would listen to him.

"Really? Cause the ones I saw today looked real. And they were scary too."

"Girls can be scary sometimes," Percy said and he glanced over at Luke. The boy was grinning and let out a laugh.

"Yea I guess you're right."

Percy liked Luke. Sure he was shy at times, but other than that, Percy had never had someone other than Grover to talk too. Now there was someone living in the exact same house as he was that didn't think he was weird.

"Hey Luke?" he asked

"Hm?"

"How old are you?"

Luke didn't answer for a minute but then said, "Seven."

So Luke was only one year younger than he was. That made sense because they were almost the same height. He couldn't have been too much younger than Percy. Now the real question was, how were they going to not become bored. Sure, his mom had some ideas to keep him occupied but doing it with someone else was a little different. But they couldn't spend all day doing nothing. Would Luke like to go swimming like him? Or would he like to sit at the edge like Grover? But they weren't going back to the park today. What else did he want to do? Maybe they could draw or watch television. Movies. That wasn't a bad idea.

"Hey do you want to watch a movie?" Percy asked and Luke sat up on the other bed.

"Don't you watch movies at night?"

"Oh well yea I guess so. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know. What do you have to do?"

"We could color or draw if you want."

Luke shrugged so Percy took that as a yes. He pulled out pieces of paper and pencils. The two of them sprawled out on the floor and started to draw. Percy wasn't sure exactly what to draw. He finally decided to draw what he thought his dad looked like. He glanced over at Luke's paper. The boy was concentrating hard on whatever he was drawing. So Percy went back to his blank paper. About ten minutes later he had finished his drawing. He looked over to see Luke finishing his as well.

"What are those?" Percy asked as he stared at Luke's paper. The younger boy's face turned a little red.

"They're shoes. With wings. I want some."

"Do they exist?" Percy asked.

"Yes. I bet they do," Luke nodded seriously. Percy was wondering just how much Luke believed in. The boy seemed like he lived in his own fantasy land.

"What is yours?" Luke asked pointing at the picture Percy had drawn.

"That's what I picture my dad to look like," Percy said with a small smile.

"You have never seen your dad?" Luke asked.

"Nope."

"Oh. Me neither. I think he would've been a good dad though."

That was exactly what Percy thought about his dad. But if Luke didn't have a dad, did he live with his mom? Why wouldn't he go back there?

"Luke do you live with your mom?" Percy asked and the other boy shifted uncomfortably.

"I did. I don't want too anymore," he said quietly.

"Why? Was she mean to you?"

"No. At least, I don't think so."

"How do you not know if she was mean to you?"

"She was nice sometimes. She was weird too."

"Oh."

Luke stopped talking and put his head in his arms again. Percy found that it seemed to be Luke's favorite position. Whenever he was upset or scared he would just hide himself from the world.

"I'm sorry. If I made you upset," Percy said as he reached out to comfort the blonde boy who still hadn't looked up. He put his hand on Luke's shoulder and squeezed lightly. Luke looked at him and shook his head.

"No you didn't. I just don't like it there."

"Well that's why you're here now."

Luke smiled at that and Percy stood up. Luke followed him as he walked out of his room and into the kitchen.

"Hey mom can you make us some popcorn?" Percy said as he sat down at the table. Luke sat next to him this time.

"Are you guys going to watch a movie?" Mrs. Jackson asked with a smile.

Percy nodded, "Yep. What time is it?"

"It's seven. You should get whatever movie you want started so it doesn't go too late."

Percy had to drag Luke into the living room again and they sat in front of the shelf that had the movies.

"What one do you want to watch?" Percy asked as he pulled one out after the other.

"I don't know. Whichever one you like."

"Here choose between these two," Percy said as he put two movies in front of Luke. Captain America and Iron Man 2. He loved both of them.

"Uh…..We can watch Captain America. Is that a good one?" Luke asked.

"It's great. Sit down on the couch while I get it ready."

Luke sat down and waited for Percy to join him. As soon as Percy put the movie in he ran up the stairs. He wanted to get them blankets. He could never watch a movie without wrapping himself in fuzzy blankets. He came back down with two blankets. He tossed one over Luke's head and laughed when he pulled it off and the static made his hair stand up. His mom brought them a bowl of popcorn just as the movie started. They thanked her and then their eyes stayed glued to the television. Percy could tell that Luke liked the movie because he didn't talk through the entire thing. When the movie was over, Luke yawned and Percy had a feeling they were up later than they should be.

"Did you like the movie Luke?" he asked as he got off the couch.

Luke nodded with a smile, "Yes."

Mrs. Jackson came in to the room, "Come on boys, time to go to sleep."

They followed her to their room and Percy climbed into his bed. He saw Luke doing the same. His mom came over to him and gave him a kiss goodnight.

"Goodnight Percy," she said. Percy watched as she walked over to Luke who was curled into a ball on his bed. She ruffled his hair and told him goodnight too. She turned the light off and then shut their door. Percy turned to look at Luke and realized that he was looking at him too.

"You ok Luke?" Percy asked softly.

"Yea I'm ok. Monsters like the dark though."

"Did you sleep with the light on?"

"No."

"Well then they aren't interested in you I guess."

Luke nodded at that. Then he turned over and went to sleep. Percy did the same.

* * *

Percy was used to sleeping through the entire night. That's why he was surprised that he woke up during the night. After a minute he wasn't so surprised anymore since Luke was screaming at the top of his lungs again.

"Luke!" he shouted. He scrambled out of his bed as his mom came rushing in. His mom gently pushed Percy out of the way and sat down next to Luke who had stopped screaming and was now holding a blanket to his chest and crying. Whatever dream Luke had must have been really bad. Percy sat on the edge of his bed as he watched his mom talk quietly with the other boy in his room. After what seemed like forever, Luke seemed to settle down. Or maybe he had just gotten tired of crying because he fell asleep leaning against Percy's mom.

"Go back to sleep Percy. He'll be fine," she said with a smile.

"You sure?"

"You already care about him huh?"

"He's living with us isn't he?"

"Yes I suppose he is."

"Night mom. Keep the monsters away from him."

"You know I will."

**Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it! Drop a review? It'd be nice!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Next chapter is here! This is just kind of a fun chapter. They're little boys. They're bound to have some fun.**

**Chapter 3**

When Percy woke up the next morning, Luke was sleeping in the other bed but his mom wasn't there. She must already be up. At least Luke was alright. In his eight years, Percy had never witnessed a nightmare that horrible. He wondered if Luke had them a lot. He decided not to ask. So he walked out to the kitchen and found a note sitting on the table.

_Percy, I had to go to work early. I'll be back around three. Make sure you and Luke find something to eat. Love you. –Mom_

It was ten-thirty now so they had about five hours until his mom got home. He wondered why he'd gotten up so late. He never slept that long. And Luke was still sleeping. Or not since the other boy had just appeared in the kitchen with him.

"Percy?" he asked rubbing his eyes a few times.

"Yea you ok?" Percy asked as he opened the cabinet to get cereal.

"Yea I'm fine. Sorry if I woke you up," Luke seemed a little embarrassed.

"No it's fine." Percy poured himself a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and passed the box over to Luke who took it and got his own breakfast. They ate together and Percy noticed for the first time that Luke was reading one of the books from his room. Or trying too. Every few minutes, the other boy would rub a hand over his eyes and frown at the pages in front of him. Percy knew immediately that Luke had the same problem that he had. What had his mom called it? Dyslexic? That was it. They both had trouble reading and concentrating. Well the concentrating part might be part of his other issue. He was ADHD too. He glanced over to see Luke shut the book and push it across the table. He looked frustrated.

"You wanted to try it?" Percy asked finally and Luke nodded.

"I did a few times before and in school too. But I always got mad when the other kids made fun of me for not being able to read right. Especially when I mixed up the letters and said something stupid," Luke sighed.

"I do the same thing. It's frustrating," Percy said with a small smile and Luke nodded in agreement.

"And then I got in trouble when I got mad at the kids. My teachers were always on their side. I beat a kid up once in first grade," Luke said glancing at Percy to see his reaction. Percy wasn't sure what to say when he heard that. He didn't see Luke as a violent kid. He seemed like the boy who would stand away from everyone at recess, not the one that would beat people up.

"Why'd you do that?" Percy asked.

"Because he told me I was stupid."

"Couldn't you have just called him something else?"

"That wouldn't have stopped him. I had to make him stop somehow. So I punched him in the face and then pushed him off the playground. He broke his leg and his arm. I got in a lot of trouble," Luke said looking at the table.

"If you ignore people, then they leave you alone too. That's what I do. They think I'm boring if I don't get mad at them," Percy said and Luke pushed back from the table.

"But how do you do that?! How can you just let them sit there and laugh at you? I can't," Luke said shaking his head.

"Try it next time?" Percy asked his friend.

Luke shrugged, "I guess."

"Ok good. You know what? We should go to the park tomorrow."

"Why?"

"Cause I barely got any time to swim yesterday and I really want to. You'll come with me right?"

"Yes."

Percy grinned and finished his cereal. Luke had finished his before him. He got up from the table and headed outside to the backyard. He heard Luke following him. He was like a little dog. Percy smiled at the thought and then continued towards the shed in the backyard. They didn't use it for anything so he played in it a lot. He was going to introduce to something he seemed very familiar with. Imagination.

"What are we doing?" Luke asked as he followed Percy to the shed.

"We're going to play," Percy said with a grin.

"In the shed?"

"There's nothing in there. I play in it all the time."

"Ok."

Percy opened the door to the shed and grabbed the flashlight off of the shelf. He let Luke walk inside and then he shut the door. He fumbled with the switch for a minute and then the flashlight lit up the little room. He saw Luke standing on one side of the shed. He looked a little confused.

"So who do you want to be?" he asked and now Luke looked really confused.

"What?"

"You pick a person to be and then we go on adventures," Percy explained and understanding flashed in Luke's eyes.

"Oh ok. Then I want to be…..Captain America!"

"Alright. Hm. I'll be the Red Skull then. You remember him?"

"Yes. But he's evil."

"Exactly. I'm going to capture you and you're going to try and escape," Percy said searching through the box he kept some of his things in.

"Can I change my character?"

"Why?"

"Cause I don't want you to capture me," Luke explained.

"Nope. You're stuck with Captain America now."

"Fine."

Percy got his small piece of rope he had out of the box and walked over to where Luke was sitting, "Can I have your hands please?"

Luke sighed but held out his arms so Percy could tie them up, "You won't get away with this!"

"I'm the Red Skull! I can get away with anything," Percy said doing the best evil laugh he could.

Luke fidgeted on the ground and then all of a sudden he leaped up and tackled Percy, his hands were free already, "You have horrible tying skills!"

Percy tried to escape from Luke but the other boy was sitting on his back, "How did you get out of that?! I tied it really tight!"

"I'm good at escaping."

"Can you get off of me?"

"No. You're the Red Skull. You deserve punishment. I will bring you to justice."

"Batman says that. Not Captain America."

"What does Captain America say?"

"I don't know."

"I will defend America?"

"Sure."

"Well then I will. From villains like you!" Luke shouted with a goofy grin on his face.

"Not if I get you off of me!" Percy said as he rolled over and Luke fell off him. Percy jumped up and pushed Luke into the ground so he couldn't move.

"Get off!" Luke shouted again but he was laughing.

"Never! Do you promise to stop defending America!?"

"I will never stop doing my job!"

"Then I have no choice. I must kill you."

"Go ahead and try! The army will be here in no time. You'll never have a chance. They will kill you."

Percy was about to deliver his 'killing shot' when the doors opened and his mom stood there. Luke started laughing.

"I told you! You never had a chance," Luke said as he rolled over and continued to laugh.

"Shut up Luke," Percy said with a smile as he got up and helped the other boy off the ground, "Hi mom."

"Hi boys, do you want anything to eat?" Mrs. Jackson asked.

"Yes!" Luke said and he pushed Percy out of the way so he was standing in front of him, "I do."

"Well let's go then," Percy's mom said with a laugh and they all walked to the house. Percy told his mom every detail of their little game with Luke adding exaggerated parts like when he was dangling upside down over a pit of crocodiles and he escaped by cutting the ropes and then jumping on the mouths of the crocodiles. He also said something about Percy taking out fifty of his best soldiers in one shot. Luke definitely had a huge imagination. But maybe that was good for games like this. If he had asked Grover to play something like this, he never would've gotten the visuals that Luke had given him. The pictures of him destroying evil armies with a sword. Luke escaping from impossible traps. It all seemed like it had actually happened.

The rest of the day was great. He and Luke played video games all day. Percy had to admit that Luke was probably better than he was. He seemed to have more coordination and he could get things done quickly. And you could not get him to talk as soon as he was focused on something happening on the screen. He liked having Luke around. He was like a friend that was always available to play. They liked doing a lot of the same things. Percy hadn't found out if Luke liked to swim yet or not. If he did, that would be great. He wanted someone who shared that interest. One of the differences between the two of them was that Luke was sneaky. He had stolen cookies from off of Percy's plate and ate them without Percy even noticing. He was a great thief and Percy wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

That night, before they had to go to bed, Luke was attempting to read again. Percy hadn't seen what story he was reading, but whatever it was, it must be interesting. He was trying really hard to get through it. Percy wondered if maybe he should try to do it again too.

"Hey Percy?"

"Yea?"

"How old are you?"

"I'm eight and half."

"Oh. Are you smart?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"What is this word?"

Percy walked over to see the word that Luke was pointing at. He saw some of the letters swim before his eyes but then they came into focus.

"Carnivorous," he said, "That is a big word, what story is that in?"

Luke held up the book and Percy saw it was one of the books he had on dinosaurs. He liked looking at the pictures but he'd never really read it.

"Does that mean it eats things? Like people?"

"I think so."

"Oh. That's kind of scary," Luke said as he closed the book and stretched out on the bed.

"Well they're all dead now."

"Do you think there are things like them? Things that eat people?"

"Yea probably."

"But not here."

"No not here."

"Ok."

"Go to sleep Luke," Percy said with a smile at the blonde boy on the other bed.

"You go to sleep," Luke said as he turned the light off and covered himself with a blanket.

"I am!" Percy laughed as he pulled his own blanket over him.

**Thanks for reading! Reviews would be really nice! Really, really nice!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disappeared for a bit. I'm sorry! Anyways, I want to thank anyone who's bothered to read or review this story. Or favorite and follow. It means a lot. But only two reviews? Come on guys you can do better! Do it for me and this story! Here's the next chapter!**

**Chapter 4**

Two weeks later and Percy was pretty adjusted to having Luke living with him. The nights were still bad. Luke still had his nightmares at night and that still woke Percy up but he thought those were getting better too. Today was going to be another one of those good days because his mom had told him they could go to the beach. The beach was definitely better than the pond at the park. It was so much bigger.

"Luke! Get up! We have to go!" Percy shouted jumping on Luke's bed until the blonde boy kicked him in the stomach.

"I'm getting up but it makes it hard when someone is jumping on the bed at the same time," Luke laughed as he rolled on to the floor. Percy jumped off of the bed and landed next to him.

"Well move faster then!" Percy said as walked out of the bedroom. He heard Luke laughing as he headed to the kitchen. His mom was making breakfast and he had a good feeling that it would be blue. He was right. Blue waffles. His mom brought him a plate.

"Is Luke up Percy?" she asked and Percy nodded.

"Yes. But he's being slow. Can you tell him to hurry up?"

"I'm not being slow!" Luke said as he walked into the kitchen. He looked at the waffles on Percy's plate and made a face, "Why are they blue?"

"It's good. Try some," Percy said but Luke didn't look convinced.

"Um. Isn't it bad to eat things that are blue? I thought that meant it was gross," Luke said sitting down at the table.

"It's just coloring, Luke. They still taste like normal waffles," Mrs. Jackson explained.

"Oh. Ok then I'll have some," Luke nodded with a grin. Percy had already finished his breakfast by the time Luke had gotten his plate.

"Come on Luke, you're being slow again," Percy said as he got up from the table. Luke sighed and then started eating in slow motion just to annoy Percy.

"I'm enjoying my breakfast, they're really good Mrs. Jackson," Luke added as an afterthought. He had that grin on his face. That one that made him look like he was going to rob a store or like he had just pulled some horrible prank on you. Percy found that grin to kind of scare him. He never knew what Luke was planning when he had that smile.

"Percy if you want to get ready to go you can," his mom said but Percy shook his head.

"I'm already ready."

"Well then, Luke as soon as you're done eating, we can go."

Luke nodded, glanced at Percy, and started eating in slow motion again. After about five minutes of this, Percy was about ready to shove the rest of Luke's breakfast down his throat. Luke was grinning at him again as he took a long drink from his glass and then slowly set it down. Percy started tapping his foot.

"Luke can you eat faster?" Percy asked.

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"I won't let you play video games with me if you don't eat faster."

"Nope."

"I won't let you borrow that book anymore."

"Fine." Luke finished his breakfast a few minutes later and then they were on the way. They sat in the backseat of the car since neither of them were old enough to sit in the front. Percy had called Grover to see if he wanted to come but he had said he was busy with something else. The car ride was horrible for the two of them since they both couldn't sit still for more than fifteen minutes at a time.

"Mom are we there yet?" Percy asked as he shifted in his seat for the one hundredth time.

"No. We still have about forty five minutes."

"Oh."

Apparently Luke wasn't listening to the conversation because about two minutes later he asked, "Mrs. Jackson, how much longer til we get there?"

Percy wanted to laugh as his mom sighed but answered Luke's question. Luke sent a sly grin in his direction and he realized that Luke had planned that out. He was a troublemaker. Percy wondered if hanging out with Luke would make him a bad kid.

How come we're not there yet? It's been like an hour," Luke complained as he put his feet up on the seat in front of him. Percy knew for sure that they hadn't been in the car for an hour. Luke was just starting to be annoying.

"We haven't been in the car for an hour Luke," Percy said giving him a light shove.

"Percy hit me," Luke complained.

"No I didn't!"

"Yes you did!"

"Percy don't hit Luke. Luke stop complaining," Mrs. Jackson said as she continued driving.

"I didn't hit him!" Percy said as he looked at Luke who was grinning at him again. That jerk.

"I'm going to be in pain the whole day now," Luke moaned with that smile still on his face as he rubbed his arm. A few days ago, Percy decided that Luke had started feeling more comfortable at their house. He was always causing trouble. The one day Luke had climbed on to the top of the cabinets in the kitchen with Percy's video game controller. He wouldn't give it back until Mrs. Jackson told him he wouldn't be able to watch Iron Man 2 with them if he didn't.

And Luke would steal. He stole a lot. At first it was just food from the table but then he started taking things out of their pockets. Percy lost five dollars one day and got really upset until he saw Luke dangling the bill in front of his face. But Luke always gave back what he stole from them. It was the other people he stole from. He wouldn't give that stuff back. He had a collection of things in a box under the bed that was full of things he'd taken. He made sure Percy wouldn't tell on him either. He told Percy that if he told, Luke would say that it had been Percy who had told him to take the things. Percy didn't want to think of Luke as a bad person but the way that he acted sometimes made him seem like he was.

They had finally arrived at the beach and Percy jumped out of the car almost as soon as it stopped. He heard Luke's footsteps behind him and glanced back to see the other boy catching up to him. Luke was fast but Percy was determined to get to the water first. He was glad that there weren't too many people at the beach because they definitely would've gotten in his way as he ran. All of a sudden a foot hooked under his ankle and he fell in the sand. He heard Luke's annoying laughter and saw the other boy not even trying to get to the water anymore. He was staggering around in a circle pointing at Percy and laughing. In the past few days, Luke had gone from being that sweet little boy they found at the park to being an annoying jerk in Percy's opinion.

Percy got up and glared at Luke, "I'll kill you for that!"

Luke's eyes widened and he took off for the water. Percy smiled to himself. That was the wrong choice. He was a lot better in the water than he was on land. He loved the water. Luke would be a lot slower. He ran after Luke. As soon as his feet touched the water he started to push himself through the water. Luke wasn't that far in front of him and he seemed to be having a difficult time getting through the water. Percy caught up to him easily and splashed a ton of water in Luke's face. Luke fell over and ended up sitting in the shallow water near the beach. Percy smiled at him and sat down across from him.

"You win," Luke said with a grin as he swirled the water around with his hand, a lot like Grover had done at the pond. Percy watched him for a minute. Luke was almost as tall as he was but he was skinnier. The pair of shorts he'd borrowed from Percy were kind of big on him. The t-shirt was Luke's but it also looked a little big for him. Luke wasn't as strong as Percy was but he was faster and sneakier.

"So what should we do?" Percy asked.

"Sandcastle?" Luke asked nodding towards the sand and Percy grinned.

"Sounds good."

They walked out of the water and started to set up where they would build. Luke wanted to build it close to the water so the waves could come up and try to break down the walls. Percy told him it wouldn't work because the waves would break things too fast. They decided to build two separate castles and then connect them with a bridge afterwards. Percy started with a normal base. He wanted to have a fancy castle but he could add the details later on. He saw Luke working on his own castle but he decided not to focus on Luke's. He wanted to make his look amazing. Better than Luke's. Percy started building up the walls on the bottom of his castle. He was planning on having a three story castle with a tower on both sides.

It took them an hour and a half of silence to finish their castles. Well Percy finished his. Luke was still working on his but he looked close to done. That was when the bigger kids arrived. Luke hadn't really noticed them but Percy had. One of them walked over to Percy. He had to be close to twelve.

"Aww that's real cute," he said in one of those teasing voices. Percy glanced at Luke who still hadn't looked up from whatever he was doing to his castle.

"You know what would make it even better?" the kid asked and Percy was just about ready to run when the kid kicked his tennis shoe into the castle. The thing fell apart and Percy was about ready to cry. He'd worked so hard to do that.

"Aww. Don't cry about it," the kid laughed.

"Hey what are you doing? Leave him alone," Luke had finally noticed what was going on. He got to his feet and stalked over to where the boys stood.

"Wow, the little brother has to get involved now huh? Well I'm sure we can make your castle look just as good as your older brother's kid," the boy said.

"How about you go drown in the ocean?" Luke snapped and he pushed him backwards. The twelve year old regained his balance and pushed Luke. This push did a lot more damage and Luke ended up landing on his butt in the water. Percy stood up now too. You didn't mess with Luke. He might be annoying sometimes but they were still close. But before Percy could jump on the older kids, Luke grabbed his wrist and pulled him away.

"Come on, let's go somewhere else," Luke said as he dragged Percy away from the boys.

"They can't just shove us around!" Percy said as Luke continued to tug on his arm.

"But you said to ignore them and then they'd go away."

"Yea I know."

"Well you weren't ignoring them."

"Let's go eat lunch ok?"

"Yes."

Luke let go of Percy's wrist and they headed towards where Mrs. Jackson was sitting. She saw them coming and waved at them. Percy smiled and ran ahead of Luke. He sat down on the towels that were spread out on the sand. Luke arrived a minute later and tried to dry off his shorts since he'd been sitting in the water. They ate quickly since Percy was eager to get back to the water and the beach.

"So how are you guys enjoying the beach?" his mom asked.

"Some jerks kicked down Percy's castle," Luke complained as he leaned back on his towel, "but other than that it's fun."

Percy nodded in agreement, "Luke and I were going to go a little farther down the beach and see if we could build over there away from those guys."

"You can do that," his mom nodded and Percy jumped up. He grabbed Luke's arm and dragged him a few feet before the other boy got his feet beneath him.

"You gotta stop doing that!" Luke whined as he let Percy lead him down the beach. They walked down the beach next to the water. Percy was trying to get them to a place where the sand wasn't already used. He found what he was looking for and was about to sit down when he noticed Luke wasn't with him anymore. He looked around and saw his friend wandering off towards a pile of rocks that were stacked up against the side of a ledge. The ledge wasn't that high, maybe about six feet off the ground but Percy didn't like anything that hung in the air.

"Luke!" he called as he ran towards the other boy.

"What?" Luke turned to him as he came over.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to climb up there," Luke pointed at the ledge.

"Can't we just go play out by the water?"

"Yea go ahead. I'll be there in a minute." Luke grabbed one of the rocks and hauled himself on to it. He studied the others for a minute before he started making his way up the pile. In less than two minutes, Luke was at the top and sitting on the ledge with his feet dangling over the side. Luke grinned at him from the top.

"Come on up. It's awesome up here."

"Why is it so great up there?"

"Cause I'm up here," Luke had that cocky grin on his face again.

"I don't want to go up there."

"Why not? It's not hard to get up here."

"I just don't like high places."

"This isn't that high. And if you want to stop being afraid of high places, you need to actually spend time in them. Face your fears!" Luke shouted that last part and Percy laughed.

"You sure about that?" he asked and Luke nodded seriously.

Percy sighed but decided to try it. The worst thing that could happen would be that he could fall and break every bone in his body. He swallowed and decided not to think about that. He focused on slowly climbing the rocks up to where Luke was swinging his feet up and back. It took him five minutes to even get close to the top. Luke smiled at him and laid down on his stomach.

"I'm gonna be fifteen before you ever make it to the top!" Luke laughed.

"At least I'm coming!" Percy said as he continued to climb.

All of a sudden Luke disappeared, "Ah! Percy! Help I'm going to fall off!"

Percy's eyes widened and he started to climb faster. He had to get to Luke. He pulled himself on to the top of the ledge and was met with a grinning face. Luke was laughing his head off.

"Ha! Gotcha!"

"That wasn't funny Luke!"

Luke continued to laugh and then he winked at Percy before jumping backwards off of the ledge. He landed on one of the rocks and then jumped to the beach. Percy followed him and then headed towards the water. Luke was right behind him.

"See I told you it would be fun. And it wasn't even that scary," Luke grinned at him.

"I guess you were right," Percy said. They were at the water again and Percy sat down at the edge so the waves would hit him. Luke sat down next to him.

"I wish I could walk on water," Percy said finally and Luke grinned.

"It would be like advanced surfing or something," Luke said and Percy laughed.

"I wish I could fly," Luke admitted as he tossed a rock into the water.

"Did you want wings or were you just going to use your arms?"

"No I'd be able to fly without needing wings."

Percy nodded, "Well that would be cool."

Luke nodded and then that evil smirk was back. The older kids were playing together in a circle. Percy had an idea of what Luke was thinking before he even said it. He wanted revenge on those kids.

"Luke this is a bad idea," Percy said as Luke started walking towards the place he'd seen the boys sitting earlier.

"No it's not. Come on it'll be fun."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm hungry," Luke said with another sneaky grin.

"Well then let's go get something from my mom," Percy begged.

"I don't think they'll mind if we take something."

"Yes I think they will," Percy said. Luke smiled and knelt down next to the boys' things. He started digging through the items. Percy glanced to where the older boys were playing. They hadn't noticed them yet. He turned back to Luke and saw the boy putting packages of cookies in his pockets and then he picked another bag. His eyes widened. The bag was full of money. There wasn't a ton of it but there had to be close to twenty five dollars. Luke grinned and put the money in his pockets as well.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing!?"

The boys had finally seen them and were coming towards them. Luke grabbed Percy's arm and they ran towards where Mrs. Jackson was sitting.

"Can we go home now?" Luke asked quickly and Percy nodded in agreement. He turned around to see the boys catching up to them. Luke was trying to hide the lumps in his pockets as he wrapped the towel around his waist. The boys arrived.

"Excuse me Miss, but your son stole something from us," the boy said nodding at Luke who shook his head.

"I didn't take anything," he said.

"Well we had cookies and now we don't," the kid said.

Luke smirked, "Maybe you ate them and forgot."

"Luke, if you took something from them, please give it back," Percy's mom said but Luke shook his head.

"I didn't take anything. You can check me for it," he dropped the towel and Percy was amazed to see that Luke no longer had anything in his pockets. What had Luke done with it?

The boy stepped in front of Luke and grabbed his arm, "Where did you put them you little sneak?"

Mrs. Jackson stepped in, "Don't touch my son. If he doesn't have them then he didn't take them."

Luke smiled at the boy and pulled his arm out of his grip. The boy sighed but turned to Percy's mom, "I'm sorry, maybe we have the wrong kid. Come on guys."

The boy sent Luke one last glare before he turned and walked away. Luke grabbed his towel and started to dry off his shorts again. Percy couldn't understand what had happened to the things that Luke had taken. They had just vanished.

"Now Luke, if you really were hiding something from them, I'm not going to be happy at all," Mrs. Jackson said.

"I didn't take anything. We were walking by their place to come back here and they thought we took their stuff."

Percy couldn't believe how good Luke was at lying like that. They finished packing up and then got into the car. Percy had to wash the sand out of his shorts but Luke had gotten all of it out of his while he was drying. As they started to drive off he saw the familiar bags sticking out of Luke's pockets. He looked at Luke but the other boy was just grinning like usual.

When they got home, Luke followed Percy to their room and then pulled out the box under his bed. He unloaded the twenty five dollars into it and then put it away. The cookies he had stolen were tossed on his bed and he picked up one of the books on the floor next to his bed. Percy watched as Luke calmly began reading and eating the stolen food. How could he be ok with taking things from someone else?

"How'd you do it?" Percy asked finally and Luke's smile widened.

"How'd I do what?"

"How did you make those disappear when you dropped the towel?"

Luke took a bite out of one of the cookies and thought for a minute, "Oh well they never disappeared. They were in the towel. When I picked the towel back up I just made sure to grab the spot where the bags were so they wouldn't fall out. Then I slid them back into my pockets. Master Thief."

"Why are you so proud of that?"

"They had it coming," Luke said as he closed the bag of cookies and put it in the box under his bed. So his friend was a thief who took pride in his work. Great.

**Thanks for reading guys! It'd be great if you tell me what you think! In a review! Right now! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! Thanks for following and favoriting(?) this story. It means a lot. Though the production of reviews is a little lower than it should be :) Here's the next chapter!**

**Chapter 5**

A year passed and Luke and Percy both celebrated their birthdays. Luke was eight and Percy was nine. Percy had made his usual request of having his cake blue. Luke had asked for yellow wings on his and he'd gotten them. Luke had also gotten something Percy had never seen before. He'd gotten some kind of card game called Mythomagic and he was obsessed with it. Percy sometimes wished that he could burn the cards but he knew Luke would kill him.

"You should get some Percy," Luke said as he followed Percy down the street to the store to get ice cream. His face was buried in some of the cards and action figures. Percy resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"I could even give you some of mine if you didn't want to buy your own," Luke continued and then he ran into a lamp post.

"Nice Luke. Nice job. Now pull your face out of those cards for a minute so we can get some ice cream," Percy said trying not to laugh. Luke scowled but put the cards and figurines in his pocket. They got their ice cream, Percy had to make sure Luke didn't steal anything, and then went to sit down at a table. Luke took a spoonful of ice cream and then pulled out his game again. He set the cards down on the table.

"See? So this is its name. Down here are its attacks and powers. Then you use those to battle against other ones. They each have certain resistances and stuff too," Luke explained.

"Yea I know you've told me a billion times," Percy said as he ate. He glanced over at the counter to see how many other people were in here. It was pretty full. Luke was still talking about the game so he tried to ignore him. That's when the dark haired boy came over. He was small, maybe Luke's age, and had short spiky black hair. The boy looked down at what Luke was doing and a smile spread across his face.

"You play Mythomagic too?" the kid asked and Luke who had been concentrating on his cards looked up at the boy.

"Yea."

The boy sat next to Percy and pulled out his own, "Cool. I'm Nico by the way. We should totally play together."

Luke grinned and shuffled his cards. He picked one of them out of the pile and set it on the table, "Your move."

Percy watched as Luke and Nico played their game. He knew they had to get home soon. His mom had just started dating this guy named Gabe Ugliano. He and Luke made jokes about Gabe definitely representing his last name because he was one ugly person. And he reeked of cigarettes. He was also a huge jerk. He didn't like Luke or Percy that much but the feeling was mutual. Luke hated Gabe. He always told Percy that Gabe was going to be trouble. That he was going to be a jerk. It was always so bad at their house. They always had to shut up whenever Gabe had friends over so it was nice to get out of the house. At least Luke was enjoying himself. A girl came over to the table and smiled at him.

"So that's where Nico ran off too. Hi, I'm Bianca. Nico's older sister," she said as she sat across from Percy, next to Luke.

"I'm Percy. That's my-" Percy stopped. What was Luke? Was he his brother or just his friend? He wasn't really sure.

"That's Luke," he said and Bianca nodded.

"You don't look similar. Are you guys friends or…?" she asked.

"I don't know. He lives with me. So we're like half brothers or something," Percy said. He liked Bianca.

"That's cool. Sometimes I wish I didn't have to live with Nico and his Mythomagic. But I'd miss him if I didn't."

"Same feeling here."

"Is he new to this thing or has he been stuck on it forever?"

"He got the first set for his birthday. Now he never stops."

Bianca laughed, "Nico was the same except he got them on his fifth birthday. I've been dealing with this for three years."

"I'm so sorry," Percy said with a grin. They hung out a little longer before Bianca told Nico that it was time to leave. Percy was glad that she was able to make the two of them stop playing because he wasn't sure if he would've been able too.

"Aww. Bianca! I was just going to beat him!" Nico complained as he slid out of the booth.

"You were not!" Luke said as he stacked up his cards and put them in his pocket. Nico smiled at him.

"It was nice meeting you Luke! We'll play again some time."

Luke nodded and then got up to follow Percy out of the store. Percy grinned at him.

"So now you finally have someone to play that game with."

"Yep. But you should still play it. I'll let you beat me the first time if you do."

"Not going to happen."

As they walked back towards their apartment Percy couldn't help but hope that Gabe was out with friends and not home. Since his mom worked during the day, they would be home alone or with him. He remembered the one horrible night that Gabe had stayed over. It was his first time spending the night there and Luke had chosen that day to have one of his horrible nightmares. Gabe had gotten to the room first and he'd yelled his head off. He'd yelled at Luke for waking him up in the middle of the night and Percy swore that he would've hit him if his mom hadn't come in at that moment to calm Luke down. That's when Percy really started to hate Gabe. He didn't understand kids. The reason that Luke hated Gabe was because the one day Percy had refused to give him money and Gabe had hit him in the face. Luke had given up his money so Percy wouldn't get hit anymore.

The one change that had occurred since Gabe had appeared was that it was starting to become Percy's job to get Luke to settle down at night. After that first incident, Gabe started making his mom not go in and talk to Luke. He thought that if Luke didn't get the comfort then eventually he wouldn't need it. But he was so wrong and Percy couldn't sleep with Luke screaming or crying in the middle of the night. So he started talking to Luke every night and Luke would talk to him. They'd talk about anything. Sometimes Percy would ask him about Mythomagic or tell him a story about what he would do as a kid. And Luke would listen to him while tears ran down in his face. Sometimes they would talk for an hour and sometimes they would talk for ten minutes. Percy was glad that he didn't have nightmares like Luke did. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to help Luke if he had his own problems. If it was a particularly bad night, he'd sit next to Luke and let the smaller boy fall asleep next to him. One morning, Percy woke up staring into bright blonde hair and realized that Luke had crawled into his bed during the night.

He smiled at Luke as they walked back towards the apartment. He liked being able to talk with Luke when he was in a bad mood. It always seemed to help him. Luke was funny even if he was annoying sometimes and he could make even the angriest man smile.

"Percy we just walked past the door," Luke said with a grin as he followed behind him.

"Sorry, I was just thinking."

"About Gabe Uglyano?"

Percy laughed, "Maybe a little."

"He's got nothing on us," Luke said with a grin. Percy laughed again. That seemed to be one of Luke's new favorite sayings. They got to their apartment and slowly opened the door. Percy peeked inside and nodded to Luke who followed him inside. He heard Luke inhale deeply and looked back to see him holding his breath. He sent him a disapproving glance.

"What? It stinks," Luke said and continued to cover his nose and mouth. They walked to Percy's room and shut the door. He was glad that Gabe hadn't been here. He didn't want any trouble. Luke put his cards on the shelf in the room next to all his little figurines. Percy stretched out on his bed and tossed one of the extra pillows over to Luke.

"That's yours," he said and Luke nodded. Last night had been one of the worse nights and that morning, Percy had found Luke sleeping at the bottom of his bed. They didn't talk about it. It was just something that happened. Luke threw a different over at him.

"This one isn't yours but I'm throwing it at you anyway."

Percy laughed and threw it back. He didn't know how they managed it but they had a full-fledged pillow war going on for a good half hour. Luke finally collapsed on his bed.

"I'm done. You win."

"Come on, I need a drink," Percy said.

"You go. I'm just going to lie here and die," Luke said with a grin. Percy grabbed his foot and pulled him off the bed. The two of them walked to the kitchen to get a drink. Luke was drinking at the table and Percy was leaning against the counter. That was when the front door opened.

"What's for dinner? Sally?" the voice called. Percy almost spit out his water when he heard the voice. Luke actually did spit out his water. Luckily, he managed to get most of it into his cup and the rest of he wiped up with his shirt. He walked over quickly and stood next to Percy. Gabe walked into the room and his eyes fell on them. Percy felt Luke shift closer to him.

"What are you two doing?" Gabe asked.

"Nothing. We'll get going now," Percy said grabbing Luke's wrist and pulling him away. He hadn't meant to, but he turned around right into Luke, who was still drinking. The water went all over Luke's shirt, shorts, and the floor. Percy's eyes widened.

"Nice job Castellan," Gabe snarled as he walked towards them. Luke visibly flinched when Gabe used his last name. Percy shoved Luke behind him again and turned towards Gabe.

"You know it wasn't his fault. You saw me run into him. And don't call him Castellan," Percy said angrily. He knew Luke hated his last name for some reason. He wasn't sure why but Luke hadn't told him his last name until his eighth birthday. He just didn't like it.

Luke grabbed Percy's arm and tugged him backwards, "Come on Percy. Let's go."

Percy followed Luke back to their room and let out a breath of relief when Luke shut the door behind them.

"You know you don't gotta stand up for me. He was going to get mad," Luke said quietly.

"That was not your fault. I ran into you," Percy said.

"I know. Just for future reference," Luke pulled out a book and started reading again. Percy watched him read. Luke had tried to convince him to read as well, but he had declined. It just wasn't his thing. Just like climbing.

Percy's mom came home and made dinner for them with Gabe talking about his stupid friends. He also made comments on how stupid some of the people that lived here were. Luke glanced at Percy and mouthed the words 'oh my god can he ever shut up?' Percy gave him a smile in return.

"And then I get home and your sons are throwing water all over the house!" Gabe said as he leaned back in the chair.

Luke coughed into his spaghetti and Percy almost choked on his milk. They had been throwing water? From what Percy remembered, they had spilled water all over Luke.

"We weren't throwing water," Percy said.

"Well it was all over the floor," Gabe replied.

"It was just as likely that we were throwing water around as it was that you actually cared about someone other than yourself," Luke snapped. The whole table went silent.

"Luke please finish your dinner," Mrs. Jackson said quietly.

"No Sally its fine. Let's hear just what Castellan has to say," Gabe glared at Luke.

"You all know its true," Luke snarled, "I'm done with this."

He got up from the table and stormed away to their room. Percy knew that Luke was easily angered. It was something they'd learned pretty early about him. If someone made him mad, he went over the top.

"Percy….." his mom said but he was already up.

"I got him mom."

Percy walked to their room and slowly opened the door. Luke glanced at him from where he was laying. Percy sat down across from him.

"You ok?"

"No."

"We're going to get through this Luke," Percy said softly.

"I know."

"Don't make him angry. It doesn't get us anywhere."

"I know."

"It's probably just temporary."

"I hope so."

Luke rolled over on his bed so he was staring at the ceiling, "Remember that one time we went to the park and Grover got stuck in the tree and we couldn't get him down?"

Percy laughed, "Yea I do. My mom had to climb up there and help him get unstuck."

"And then when he got down he swore never to climb another tree again."

Percy grinned, "Why are you bringing this up?"

"You were crying," Luke said quietly. Percy hadn't even realized that he had been. Maybe it was the whole situation. He was sick of Gabe and he was sick of Luke getting in trouble with him. He hated how they had to live with him. Luke smiled slightly and walked over to him.

"We're going to get through this, Percy," he said as he gave Percy a hug.

"I know."

"It's probably just temporary."

Percy smiled slightly as Luke repeated the same words he had said, "I hope so."

**Things are starting to pick up. Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed! If you leave a review...I'll do something awesome for you. I just have to think of what.**


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